Sometime just before 14:30, William Smith, a workman at the Reading Municipal Tar Plant, located just west of Nicholls and Windsor Streets, began to work on unclogging a pipe line. This line, which was completely clogged with tar, ran from a 17,000 gallon tar tank to a large mixing vat.
Smith ignited the flame on his gasoline torch, then began his task. He was soon joined by another worker, Issac Cross. Together, they began to heat the clogged pipeline.
While doing this, the tar that was encrusted on the outside of the pipe ignited. As the two men attempted to douse the burning tar, their clothes caught fire. They then began to frantically beat at the flaming material while yelling for help, their cries were answered by the plant's fireman, William Cross. As Fireman Cross was attempting to beat out the flames that enveloped the two workers, his clothing also caught fire.
During their frantic attempt to extinguish the burning clothes they wore, the 17,000 gallon tank exploded.
The force of the blast violently expelled flaming tar, as well as burning pieces of wood and fragments of metal that once was part of the large tank.
As the residents came outside their homes, they were greeted by a great plume of thick, black smoke. The men were soon met by other workers and neighbors from the area who had come to their assistance. Once they succeeded in smothering their flaming clothes, the three men were rushed to nearby hospitals in private vehicles.
Meanwhile, thirteen-year-old Dorothy McCallicher, of 722 Spring Street, was with her two brothers, one sister and five other neighborhood friends, playing on a sand pile nearby when the blast occurred. All but one miraculously escaped the sudden shower of flaming tar and debris. The most severely injured of all the children was Dorothy, who instantly became a mass of flames. She took off running and screaming, both in immeasurable pain and panic. Before any of the onlookers could attend to Dorothy's injuries, she collapsed and died. The child was horribly burned from head to toe. Coincidentally, the day before, Dorothy was struck by an automobile at 8th and Spring Streets. She was taken to the Homeopathic Hospital, and treated for shoulder bruises.
The blast shook houses up to a mile away. Boards used as steps leading to the top of the large tank were thrown as far as one-hundred feet from the tank.
At 14:30, the first of three separate Gamewell stations was pulled. Box 5, 8th and Windsor, was struck within minutes of the blast. This was followed closely behind by Box 51, 6th and Douglass Streets, and Box 63, 10th and Douglass Streets.
Fire Chief John G. Niethammer arrived on the scene within minutes. Without a moments hesitation, he proceeded to Box 5 and tapped out an immediate second alarm.
The arriving firemen found tanks, mixing machinery, the entire boiling house and a wooden box car that sat several yards away from the tar plant, all fully engulfed in flames.
After only a few minutes of fighting the blaze, one of the three chief officers returned on foot to Box 5 and sounded the triple three tapping, a signal for a general alarm.
With the tapping of three separate street corner boxes, and a general alarm struck by the closest one, this acted as a five alarm fire. Every truck from every station in the city responded, leaving no other apparatus behind should another fire break out in the city.
Reading railroad workers brought out a specially equipped train, used in fighting fires, to the scene. Their attempt to combat the red devil never developed because of the intense heat that kept them at a distance.
At the height of the fire, over twenty hose streams were in service. Several of these lines were directed upon several large tank filled with gasoline, all of which belonged to the Gold Seal Oil Company, 730 Windsor Street.
The men operating these hose lines were kept more than one-hundred feet from the fire due to the intense heat. Another hindrance was a slow, steady flow of burning tar that oozed from the tank's remains.
As the fire was being knocked down, the men pushed forward through the sticky, black mass. Several firemen had their boots pulled from their feet as they walked through the hot, burning tar.
Within a half hour, the bulk of the fire was knocked down and the threat of further disaster had passed. This allowed Niethammer to list the incident as under control.
Trego, a Dalmatian belonging to the Schuylkill Fire Company, followed the men into battle, and became marooned in the boiling tar. He was severely burned on all of its legs. He was taken to the Reading Veterinary Hospital, 340 North 6th Street, where Dr E. E. Romberger treated him. Trego suffered until he died on December 5, 1926, after infections set in from injuries he sustained.
This was not the first time that Trego injured as he led the firemen from the Schuylkill's into battle. Several years before, during a fire at the Wilhelm Paint Company, 3rd and Bern Streets, the company's Dalmatian ran into the burning structure and was splashed with acid. The volunteers found their mascot several minutes later, outside, rolling around in a large puddle of water near a fire plug.
The continuous Gamewell action brought out thousands of spectators. Those that lived far away drove to the scene. It was estimated that more than a thousand automobiles were double parked along the many streets surrounding the asphalt plant. Many found the best place to watch the blaze was from the North 7th Street railroad banks. Numerous policemen responded to the bell alarms found it almost impossible to keep the thousands of citizens away from the scene. Unrelenting spectators that refused to vacate the railroad tracks were forced to move when the police ordered a large freight train onto a rail siding near the tar plant.
Of the three men injured in the blast, only two survived. Plant Fireman William Cross, 39, of 218 Douglass Street, was taken to Reading Hospital, where he died on August 18, at 20:50.
William Smith, 32, was burned along his face, chest and arms, and Isaac Cross, 48, the brother of fire victim William Cross, suffered from serious burns throughout his entire body. Both were treated at the Homeopathic Hospital.
The Tank was one of several city owned units on this property used to make street surfacing materials. At the time, many employees were busy making black top, which was used to widen Lancaster Avenue to 80-feet. The explosion set the finishing date back by several weeks. The fire loss was estimated around $40,000.
Well over one-hundred residents from the 8th and Windsor area petitioned the City of Reading more than six weeks prior to this fire, in an attempt to have the asphalt plant moved to another location. With the unfortunate loss of two people at this fire, the residents hired Attorney Ira G. Kutz to help them convince the city to move the plant. On August 19, 1926, Attorney Kutz presented his case to the councilmen, stating that the city was negligent in providing some sort of fencing to keep children from playing inside the plant property. Councilman Fred G. Hodges replied that, no matter where the plant would relocate, this type of explosion would have still killed someone. Within the next year, the plant not only rebuilt on the same location, but added more buildings to the property.
Dorothy Irene McCallicher's parents filed a law suit against the City of Reading for $8,520 in damages during the first week of January 1926. Their lawyer, Samuel Bertolet, stated the asphalt plant had large unsecured piles of sand that were a constant attraction to the children of the area. Bertolet also said that the city should have erected a fence or post a guard to keep children from playing on their property. Broken down, the $8,520 in damages were for: $700 in funeral and burial expenses; $100 for medical attention needed by Dorothy's mother by reason of shock caused by her child's death; $220 in lost earning by her father; and $7,500 in lost earnings by Dorothy, which she could have earned from age 14 to her adulthood. The McCallichers won their law suit later in the year. Thanks to Tony Miccicke, Department Historian, for supplying this look back into the Fire Department's history.
